OriginOil Makes Middle East Deal

OriginOil of West Adams has made a licensing deal to bring its water cleanup technology to the Middle East.

The deal announced Wednesday calls for OriginOil to license its Electro Water Separation process to oil and gas services firm Burgan One of Kuwait City. Burgan will design, manufacture and distribute water treatment products using the technology.

OriginOil’s technology uses electricity to separate organic materials from large volumes of water, and the company has recently been looking for large-scale applications in the oil and gas field. For example, it can help clean water that has been used in fracking.

The company was launched with a focus on producing biofuel from algae, but has recently shifted to licensing its water separation technology. This is OriginOil’s first such deal to license Electro Water Separation in the Middle East. The company also has a deal with a Japanese urban farming company to use the process for aquaculture.

Burgan One handles tasks such as soil remediation and cleaning of oil contaminated lakes and desalination of high saline water, and has worked with firms such as the Kuwait Oil Co.

“We look forward to working rapidly to adapt our technology to the Middle East oil fields,” Riggs Eckelberry, chief executive at OriginOil, said in a statement.

OriginOil shares fell nearly 3 percent to 17 cents in Wednesday trading on the Over the Counter market.